Missed It By That Much

List Price: $1.2 millionSale Price: $1.05 millionThe Property: When this hilltop mansion in Beverly was last sold (in 1995), it was the first home in the neighborhood to sell for more than $500,000, recalls its latest selling agent, Sandra Bianciotto…

By Dennis Rodkin

Published Oct. 3, 2011

List Price: $1.2 millionSale Price: $1.05 millionThe Property: When this hilltop mansion in Beverly was last sold (in 1995), it was the first home in the neighborhood to sell for more than $500,000, recalls its latest selling agent, Sandra Bianciotto. This time around the house was a contender for the neighborhood’s all-time top sale price; it ended up selling for $25,000 less than the record-setter, a significantly bigger house on more land that was sold for $1.075 million in 2009.

Built around 1908 for Frederick C. Sawyer, then an executive with the meatpacker Swift & Company, the house has 13 rooms and many vintage details, including heavy oak pocket doors, leaded glass windows, and a top-floor ballroom. Its architect, Horatio R. Wilson, also designed the McIntosh-Goodrich Mansion in Milwaukee (it now houses the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music) and the Chicago building (since remodeled) at 2120 South Michigan Avenue that for many years was home to Chess Records.

According to the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, Jeffrey Gilbert and Malinda Steele paid $525,000 for the five-bedroom home in 1995. Gilbert is a lawyer and the general counsel for Teamsters Local 705, the union’s largest Chicago local. Steele is a clinical social worker and therapist. They declined to comment on the sale, which closed August 31. The name of the buyer is not yet in public records.

Price Points: The residence whose 2009 sale set the neighborhood record was an 8,200-square-foot home on a 35,000-square-foot lot; today’s house has about 6,000 square feet and stands on a 23,500-square-foot lot, making it the leader on the basis of price per square foot.